South Africa is seeing unrest due to immigration. Yahoo/AFP

A man with a machete trying to protect himself. Yahoo/AFP.

South Africa is seeing a wave of violence targeting foreigners in response to immigration. Yahoo/AFP. At least 6 people have died and shops and homes have been attacked. The main targets are immigrants from countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia and Malawi. Police broke up anti-immigrant protests in Johannesburg. 

CNN is reporting that as many as 2000 people have fled to police stations for protection. Some have commended the attacks and are working to help the people effected by them. Many may even return to their home countries. 

My Comment:

I always like posting about other countries immigration problems because it helps dispel the myth that it is an uniquely American issue. It is not. In fact I would be willing to bet that immigration, legal or otherwise, is an almost universal problem. The only exceptions I can think of are homogenized societies like Japan, and due to their demographic problems, there is a good chance that they will resort to immigration as well. 

The mass movement of poor people across the world is going to be one of the major stories of the 21st century. America gets immigrants from everywhere and there is a huge movement here to either halt it or at least slow it down. Europe is tearing itself apart due to the problem of massive numbers of Africans and Middle Easterners, most of whom are Muslim. And even South Africa has managed to foster a large anti-immigration movement.

So why are there so many similar anti-immigration movements across the globe? Part of it is of course related to jobs. I know the stereotype is the immigrant taking a job that a native person wants, and I think there is a lot of truth to it. Sometimes immigrants do get unfairly blamed but it definitely does happened. 

But jobs aren't the only reason. There are also cultural differences as well. All groups have their own standards and beliefs and that can be a major cause of conflicts. In theory, these differences will die down in time as the immigrants blend into the culture, but there are reasons that doesn't happen. Discrimination is one reason and poverty is another. Since crime tends to follow immigrants, it is a factor as well. But I'm going to go out on a controversial limb and say that some cultures just aren't compatible with each other. 

As for South Africa specifically, this isn't a new problem. While the Apartheid era gets most of the attention due to the fact that the media loves it when whites and blacks don't get along, there is also conflict between different groups of blacks. This isn't really at all surprising because Africa is a diverse continent. I'm guessing that an American has more in common culturally with most of Europe then a Somalian has with a South African. When these new people come into an area that already has huge problems with poverty, crime, and discrimination, it is a recipe for disaster.

Finally, if you are fans of the film District 9, watch it again. Western media almost exclusively read that movie as an extended commentary on Apartheid. They were wrong Though Apartheid obviously is a part of any film set in South Africa, the movie was a contemporary commentary of immigration in South Africa. Some of the interviews conducted in the movie are real people talking about immigrants. They were edited to make it sound like they were talking about aliens and not Nigerians. As a matter of fact, immigration was also a large factor in Elysium, so Neil Blomkamp seems to be stuck on the issue.  Just like the rest of the world...